Tigers' Wimprine confident he can improve
Quarterback still looking for groove after 2 games

By PhilStukenborg
Contact
September 14, 2004

He was playing his own version of Monday morning quarterback at Monday's University of Memphis football press luncheon and, like most in that position, Danny Wimprine was being critical. Of himself.

Wimprine, a record-setting senior from New Orleans, was the most valuable player in last year's New Orleans Bowl, a major reason the University of Memphis broke an eight-year losing streak and a key factor in the program receiving a No. 25 national ranking this week.

But Wimprine, being the competitor that he is, wasn't in the mood to dwell on his superlatives. He talked instead about his missed opportunities in the team's season-opening win at Ole Miss and several misses in last weekend's blowout of 1-AA Chattanooga.

Wimprine was 9-of-21 in a 52-21 victory over UTC. He passed for 263 yards and two touchdowns -- and averaged a school-record 29.2 yards per completion -- but was less than impressed with his effort.

"It wasn't my best day," said Wimprine. "It started in the first half when I missed a couple of big plays I usually make. I guess I was getting too excited, I don't know."

On the Tigers' first possession, and facing second-and-11 from the UTC 21, Wimprine missed an open Maurice Avery in the right corner of the end zone. On the team's second possession, Wimprine tried to hook up with receiver Ryan Scott on second-and-goal from the UTC 9, but was unable to connect with a diving Scott in the end zone. On the next play, tight end John Doucette scored by taking a short pass from Wimprine and powering his way up the middle.

"I just missed a couple of guys I should hit," Wimprine said. "In the second half, we made some bigger plays. Some guys stepped up and made some plays for me. That's what a team is. When a guy is not having his best day, some other guy steps up and carries you."

Wimprine completed 55.9 percent of his passes last season in leading the Tigers to a 9-4 record. Through two games this season, Wimprine has completed 30-of-64 for 46.9 percent, or about seven percentage points behind his career average. The Tigers (2-0) play at Arkansas State (0-2) Saturday night.

"Danny has been accurate (during his career)," said Tiger coach Tommy West. "I'm not overly concerned, but we've got to get better."

West said one reason he's not too worried about Wimprine's percentage is the Tigers' affinity for throwing the deep ball. West said the Tigers were 2-of-9 on deep passes against UTC, a statistic that affected Wimprine's percentage.

"If you notice, we come out in games and really throw the ball to see how you are going to play us," West said. "If we were a basketball team, we would shoot 3s until you came out and guarded us. We missed some balls early and that's the only thing that frustrated me."

Wimprine had better success in the second half. He completed 4-of-5 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown. He had completions for 50 and 68 yards.

Scott made an athletic move to jump in front of UTC defensive back Jason Jones and catch a 50-yard pass from Wimprine. And running DeAngelo Williams turned a short screen pass into a 68-yard touchdown play.

"We did get some huge chunks of yards off of some plays," Wimprine said. "We're a big-strike offense with some big-time playmakers. That's not out of the ordinary for us. We could do that every week."

Wimprine said it sometimes takes him a few weeks to find a groove at the beginning of theseason, to "get used to certain players and certain looks and start to recognize things a lot quicker and easier."

"But I'm seeing things fine. I'm seeing what's going on, I'm just not connecting with my receivers. The past two games, unfortunately, I've missed some guys I should hit. Hopefully this week we'll be able to see a difference."

Wimprine said he's confident a solid week of practice will go toward correcting any early season shortcomings in his game.

"I'm not worried about it in the slightest," Wimprine said. "We're leaving some things out on the field and we're still getting 400 yards a game."

Quote:Wimprine was 9-of-21 in a 52-21 victory over UTC. He passed for 263 yards and two touchdowns -- and averaged a school-record 29.2 yards per completion -- but was less than impressed with his effort.

I think you guys can pull the upset but will need another off night from Wimprine and to contain Williams.

Aw, come on now. We scored 20 on Mizzou; is your defense that much better? You guys are certainly good, but this game is really important to stAte! We will come ready to play after our bad losses to Mizzou and LSU.

Of course, I am not going to touch the 41 part as our young, green defense is not stopping much at this point!